President Trump on Thursday called the man he mocked for having a “weight problem” at a New Hampshire rally earlier that evening after discovering he was a supporter.
A senior administration official said Friday that after campaign staff got the rallygoer’s contact information, Trump called him from Air Force One on the way back to Bedminster, N.J. The president left a voicemail message.
{mosads}The man, Frank Dawson, a law enforcement and Navy veteran, was interviewed by Fox News Thursday night following the rally and revealed he was a Trump supporter, adding that he ripped signs out of the hands of nearby protesters at the rally.
“He didn’t see me rip the signs away from those three people that were sitting near us, and they were trying to cause a ruckus,” Dawson told Fox. “It wasn’t going to happen beside me because I’m trying to listen to my president.”
“I think he thought I was part of it, but I wasn’t. I was the good part of it,” Dawson added.
Trump singled out Dawson at Thursday’s campaign-style rally when protesters were being escorted out of the arena, apparently mistaking him for one of the demonstrators.
“That guy’s got a serious weight problem. Go home, start exercising,” Trump said at the rally in Manchester.
“Get him out of here, please. Got a bigger problem than I do,” Trump added. “Got a bigger problem than all of us. Now he goes home and his mom says, ‘What the hell have you just done?'”
Trump has a habit of mocking protesters at his rallies. The demonstrators on Thursday night were escorted out of the arena about a third of the way into Trump’s 90-minute remarks, when he was criticizing Democrats and accusing them of demeaning law enforcement officials.
Trump’s comments overall took aim at his Democratic opponents. At one point he suggested the U.S. would enter a recession if he isn’t reelected in 2020.
Dawson said Trump’s mockery of him didn’t change his opinion of the president.
“I love the guy,” Dawson told Fox. “He’s the best thing that ever happened to this country.”
Brett Samuels contributed.